


"The Pilot" S10.1: Decoding Doctor Who Season 10 Episodes

by TardisGirlLoveStory



Series: Season 10 Doctor Who [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Analysis, F/M, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 10:52:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10695525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisGirlLoveStory/pseuds/TardisGirlLoveStory
Summary: This is the continuing work of a multi-chapter handbook and meta analysis for Season 10 of BBC's Doctor Who.  While it's not absolutely necessary to read the first document titled Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, it helps explain some of the metaphors, etc. Pre-airing analysis of "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" starts in Chapter 9, and the post-airing analysis starts in Chapter 14.Season 10 spoiler warnings





	1. Influential Novels Provide Basis for Backstory

**Author's Note:**

> **** Spoiler warning. ****
> 
> Check out my [meta archive on Tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/meta-archive) for images

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The Pilot" offers a very different feel for Doctor Who Season 10. 
> 
> Season 10 spoiler warnings

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/159848264798/ch-1-doctor-who-s10-the-pilot-analysis/)

##  **So Happy about Finally Seeing Backstory of 1st Doctor**

I’m squee-ing in so many ways!  I’m going to need another box of tissues, though.  The backstory of the 1st Doctor is starting to unfold in such a big way.  It’s an amazing love story!  I’ve shown you a few pieces, but it’s so much bigger than what I’ve showed you so far because it’s so complicated.  Also, there’s new information, too.  Maybe some of it came up in some of the Classic Who episodes that I haven’t seen.  So I can’t be sure it’s all new.  At least, it’s new to me.  I’m betting some of this really is new information.

Not only do we see the photo, shown below, of the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, on his desk, but also the references to the 1st Doctor and his wife are amazing and heartbreaking!  I loved seeing River’s photo, too.  The Doctor is showing his sentimental side.  


_The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Time Traveler’s Wife,_ possession,bootstrap paradoxes, broken promises, the 1st Doctor and his wife, _The Wizard of Oz, Through the Looking Glass, etc._ are all playing big parts in this episode.

##  **Analyzing New Episodes with Big Changes**

While there is a huge amount to talk about with “The Pilot,” I tend to watch episodes and then think about them over several days and weeks, coming to new revelations.  While I’m posting this analysis now, there may be a lot more that I realize about this episode over the next few weeks, especially in relation to subsequent episodes.  Besides, it’s impossible to touch on everything I see in an episode because there is so much, so there will always be more to talk about later, especially with cast and setting changes.

In fact, for me, major changes always take a little longer to get use to.  Not only do we have new cast members, but also we see the Doctor based on Earth – something that feels very much like the 3rd Doctor.  Changes like these can take a bit longer to absorb because I, for one, need to concentrate on understanding the new cast, their roles, accents, etc. besides the normal stuff.  Thank goodness for subtitles!  

Therefore, analyses in the first few days are not as complete, as say, in 3 weeks, 6 weeks, or many years later, as was the case with the Doctor’s calling card and the Eye of Harmony.  However, because over the previous chapters we examined so many of the concepts that are reflected in “The Pilot”, we know we are on the right track in reading the subtext.  And there’s a lot of new information given to us in this episode.  

For me, this was the best season opener in years!

##  **Plenty of Subtext Concepts Falling into Place**

How cool is it to just examine concepts in subtext and then see them actualized in canon?!  It’s absolutely thrilling for me, and I hope you are enjoying the episodes more, knowing how some of this relates.  (Leave me a comment and let me know how you are doing with the subtext.)

The Doctor is in a different place than he was in TRODM, which isn’t surprising.  DW with non-linear time travel loves to jump around.  The Doctor has done a bootstrap paradox, taking us back to near the beginning to show the 1st Doctor’s story.  I’ll explain more about him in a few minutes.  

In the episode, we see plenty of connections to what we’ve been examining.  For example, we see not only a vault, but also subtext referring to the Vault; a being of pure consciousness (Heather); integrations and eating people; a pilot; discussion of evil; the backstory of the 1st Doctor; River controlling the Doctor; the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, in the photograph also controlling the Doctor; gender change; _The Man Who Fell to Earth_ , _The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Wizard of Oz, Through the Looking Glass,_ mention of the Master, etc.  

We haven’t discussed all of these in depth.  However, we will. 

##  **The 1st Doctor & “The Pilot”**

“The Pilot” offers a very different feel than most other DW episodes, reflected in the term “pilot,” a rebooting of the series, so to speak, going back to the backstory of the 1st Doctor, which is where the subtext has been heading for a long time.  

For example, the Doctor’s new companion Bill and our dead student turned shape-shifter, Heather, most likely refers to William Hartnell (the 1st Doctor) and his wife Heather Hartnell.  Knowing this and who else Heather represents makes this episode very sad, especially with whose tears Bill was shedding. We’ll examine what all this really means.  

However, “pilot” also refers to the metaphorical Star Whale, the one made to eat people in “The Beast Below.” 

####  **“Deep Breath” & THORS**

Clara and the Doctor were piloting the boat at the beginning of “Deep Breath,” shown below.  However, with Clara missing from his life, the Doctor abandoned the Ship.  We saw in THORS that the Doctor was tired of all the weight on his back.  Besides, while he spent 24 years with River, he didn’t want to be the pilot.    


####  **“The Pilot” & The _Mary Celeste_**

At the beginning of “The Pilot,” _Starship UK_ is without its pilot, so to speak.  Metaphorically speaking, _Starship UK_ is languishing, dying because it doesn’t have a pilot.  

In fact, the room with the Vault doors contains an eclectic set of items that one might find in an attic.  It feels like a room of “lost” or unused things.  There is a sign: the _Mary Celeste_.  


Interestingly, the _Mary Celeste_ , an American merchant brigantine ship, left New York City for Genoa on November 7, 1872.  (Since TRODM was set in New York City, it seems something may have happened to the Doctor between TRODM and “The Pilot.”)  

The _Mary Celeste_ was found abandoned and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean with no one aboard on December 5, 1872.  Not only was the lifeboat missing, but also the mystery of what happened has never been solved. 

I don’t know if it is important but, according to Wikipedia, the captain of the _Mary Celeste_ “arranged for his wife and infant daughter to accompany him while his school-aged son was left at home with his grandmother.” <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste>  It fits the theme of people looking for each other.

####  **“The Lodger”**

“Pilot” is also a reference to “The Lodger,” where an autopilot hologram is trying to find a non-human pilot for the crashed time ship that belonged to the Silence.  The ship drew power from its pilots, who steered the ship with their thoughts.  

It latches onto Craig’s girlfriend Sophie, who, like Heather, wanted to leave.  However, Craig wants to stay.

> **DOCTOR** : Right. Stop. Crashed ship, let's see. Hello, I'm Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue. Please state the nature of your emergency.  
>  **AUTOPILOT** : The ship has crashed. The crew are dead. A pilot is required.  
>  **DOCTOR** : You're the emergency crash program. A hologram. What, you've been luring people up here so you can try them out?

So there’s a reference similar to the _Mary Celeste_ , adrift without a crew and pilot.  Craig gets the autopilot to release Sophie, but it finally latches onto him.

> (Smoke is coming off Craig's hand.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : Craig, what's keeping you here? Think about everything that makes you want to stay here. Why don't you want to leave?  
>  **CRAIG** : Sophie. I don't want to leave Sophie. I can't leave Sophie. I love Sophie.  
>  **SOPHIE** : I love you, too, Craig, you idiot.  
>  (Sophie puts her hand on Craig's.)
> 
> **DOCTOR** : Oh, not now, not again. Craig, the planet's about to burn. For God's sake, kiss the girl.

We’re back to the love story.  There has to be a resolution to this.

**Explaining “The Pilot”**

Whereas TRODM was based on complex character metaphors, “The Pilot” is easier to explain.  (I still haven’t gotten to explain the TRODM character metaphors.  I will explain them eventually.)  However, “The Pilot” has a larger-than-normal number of references to other episodes.  In fact, it seems like this episode may reference more episodes than any other.  I expect that in Moffat’s last season, completing this part of the story and tying up loose ends require a lot of subtext references, suggested by other episodes.

Before we get to the main story and characters in the next chapter, it’s important to note the huge change in Time and how this episode relates to 2 influential novels.

##  **Back to the Beginning** : **The Bootstrap Paradox**

Clearly, things have changed for the Doctor since the previous episode.  He’s a professor at a university, but it’s deceiving when this is taking place.  With the time-traveling Doctor, anything is possible, so setting the Time can be problematic. 

The Doctor plays the beginning chords to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony at the start of “The Pilot” with Bill in his office.  That’s a reference to the bootstrap paradox that he explained in the 9th season episode “Before the Flood” while trying to stop the ghosts.

In that episode, he goes back into the past, which is what he has done in “The Pilot,” too, and becomes part of events.  

####  **23 Million-Year-Old Universe**

When the Doctor is trying to get away from ghostly Heather, they end up on an almost barren, very odd world with swaying plants that look like they are in the ocean.  


The arches remind me of the Ood Sphere in “The Planet of the Ood.”  It’s not the same, but it’s something to keep in mind.  


The most interesting thing about this Planet is not the Planet, per se, but when.

> **BILL** : Where are we?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Other end of the universe. Twenty three million years in the future. Oh, yes, it's a time machine too.

Being at the other end of the universe and only 23 million years, means a couple of things.  It’s the 11th hour on a clock, so the Doctor is playing the 11th Doctor in this scene.  Second, this universe is impossible for a real universe.  Planets like Earth and Mars take tens of millions of years to cool.

From the NASA site: <https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/news/releases/2007/J07-019.html>

> A team of scientists from NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), both in Houston, and the University of California, Davis (UCD) has found that terrestrial planets such as the Earth and Mars may have remained molten in their early histories for tens of millions of years.

Therefore, this is more evidence that the universe was built around him, just like it was for Donna in “Turn Left” when she had the beetle on her back.  We know Caecilius had a beetle on his back.  It’s why “Doctor Who?” is the oldest question in the universe.  

We’ve gone back a long way from the 9-billion-year universe in “Hell Bent.”

Nardole did tell Grant and Lucy in TRODM:

> **NARDOLE** : Her name was River Song. They were together for a while and they were very happy. And then she died, a long time ago, in a library.

It’s odd that River died a long time ago, given that she died in the 51st century, and TRODM seemed to be set in 2016.  Therefore, a lot happened between River’s death and the Doctor’s appearance in TRODM with adult-looking Grant. 

##  **Quick Look at People & Events to Analyze More in Depth**

We’ll examine these more in depth mostly in the next chapter, and I’ll show you the proof.  However, for now I want to throw out these points.

  * The main themes are time, broken and unfulfilled promises, how the Doctor changes people, how time and companions change the Doctor, and looking for someone who is looking for them. 
  * Gone back to the beginning 
    * Bootstrap paradox
    * Universe is approximately 23 million years old, at least at one point
    * Universe created around the Doctor
  * _The Time Traveler’s Wife_ references show up twice
  * _The Man Who Fell to Earth_ : are we getting a tragic story with a happy ending? 
  * Character roles change over the episode
  * The Doctor
    * Looks like he is observing humans as a professor
    * Playing all the Doctors, including the _Man Who Fell to Earth_
    * The Doctor is more than he seems
    * Heather is a mirror of the Doctor
    * Is the Doctor also Doctor Faustus?
    * Is the Doctor playing Christopher from “The Wasp and the Unicorn”
  * Bill
    * Mirroring Rose at first 
    * Mirroring all the female companions of nuWho plus, most likely, all in DW during episode
    * Integrates with Heather, therefore, the Doctor
    * Becomes a mirror of the Doctor and the unactualized potential of the Doctor in the same way Danny Pink and Grant were.
    * Named for 1st Doctor, William Hartnell, most likely
  * Heather 
    * Named for William Hartnell’s wife, Heather Hartnell, most likely
    * She will be back because she is the Doctor
    * 2 eye colors represent the _Man Who Fell to Earth_
    * Heather’s odd star in her eye represents multiple things:
      * She is dazzled or enraptured, especially with romance
      * In the 9th Doctor episode “Bad Wolf,” the Game Station had a game “Stars in Their Eyes,” which as Lynda said, “Literally, stars in their eyes. If you don't sing, you get blinded.”
      * She represents the humanoid alien, Newton, from _The Man Who Fell to Earth_
      * The star may also represent the Eye of Harmony
  * Susan 
    * Has an important role in this episode
    * Is an integrated character
  * River 
    * Has an important role in this episode
    * Is not an integrated character
  * The Eye of Harmony shows up in multiple ways



##  **Influential Novels Have a Big Presence**

In “The Pilot,” both the 1963 novel _[The Man Who Fell to Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_\(novel\))_ , written by Walter Tevis, and _[The Time Traveler’s Wife](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Traveler%27s_Wife),_ written by Audrey Niffenegger and published in 2003, are playing big roles. 

Since DW was based, in part, on _The Man Who Fell to Earth_ , it’s not surprising that DW is finally coming back to the tragic story of the alien who comes to Earth on a mission of mercy for his people.  Will we get a happy ending?  That’s what I believe the rescue is partially about. 

While we haven’t seen much of _The Man Who Fell to Earth_ up till now, _The Time Traveler’s_ Wife has played a major role in nuWho.  Because these novels are so influential in the story, it’s important to start with them since they can help us understand parts of “The Pilot.”  

##  **Heather’s Eyes & _The Man Who Fell to Earth_**

Since I have only seen the movie version of _The Man Who Fell to Earth_ with David Bowie and read the summary of the novel on Wikipedia, I’ll mostly refer to the movie.  However, the novel makes some important points that were lost in the movie, which I’ll mention. 

The most outward reference in “The Pilot” to _The Man Who Fell to Earth_ is Heather’s 2 different iris colors.   


However, once we start comparing Newton to Heather and the Doctor, we see striking similarities.

Like Heather, Thomas Jerome Newton, a humanoid alien, has 2 different irises.  The blue arrow points to his blue eye, which is not dilated, and the red arrow is his dilated eye, which looks like it might be a slightly different color.  


In the novel he comes to Earth in a lifeboat, which certainly sounds like the escape pod in “The Fires of Pompeii.”  In the movie, we see him leaving what looks like his wife and 2 children, as he gets into a weird-looking vehicle, shown below.  It’s certainly not spaceworthy and reminds me of the hot air balloon the half-faced man tries to use to get to the Promised Land.  Things are not as they seem in the movie.  


####  **Newton’s Planet is Similar to Gallifrey and Skaro**

Newton’s planet, Anthea, which we only see in a few quick flashbacks, is a desert.  Anthea is experiencing a terrible drought after many nuclear wars.  While we only see Newton and 3 other humanoid beings, Wikipedia’s description of the book says the population has dwindled to less than 300.  In the book, he wants to construct a spaceship to ferry others from his home planet to Earth.

Newton’s planet reminds me of the deserts of Gallifrey and Skaro.  The way the 10th Doctor talked about what Gallifrey used to be, it was beautiful, but war destroyed it.  As for Skaro, Daleks intentionally set off neutron bombs in the 1st Dalek story.

####  **Super-intelligence of Newton & the Doctor**

The Wikipedia’s book description says, “Like all Antheans, Newton is super-intelligent, but he has been selected for this mission because he has the physical strength necessary to function in Earth's hotter climate and higher gravity.”

Like Newton, in “Kill the Moon,” where the Moon is an egg, the 12th Doctor does mention he is a super-intelligent alien: 

> **DOCTOR** : You see, I am a super-intelligent alien being who flies in time and space. Are you going to shoot me?

Also, in “The Pilot,” the Doctor talks about the puddles they discover.

> **DOCTOR** : Intelligent oil. Super intelligent space oil. No, part of the ship itself. Shape-shifting fluid that becomes anything it needs to be.

####  **The Boy Who Fell to Earth & the Artist**

In the movie, much is left only to a few visuals about how Newton got to Earth.  We see something falling from the sky and splashing into a lake, foreshadowing a painting and poem we later see. From almost the start of the movie, someone is watching him.  

Right after this, we see Newton with a British passport and know he is in the U.S. with a huge wad of American money.  How did he get these items?  So there are a lot of bizarre things.  However, he is ignorant about some British things, so the movie leaves a lot of questions about where he landed and how he gets a British passport.  Is the passport like psychic paper?  (In the book he landed in Kentucky.)

Newton does need money, so he can build his spaceship and save his people.  However, his good intentions go wrong.

####  **The Fall of Icarus**

At 15 minutes into the movie, we see a book of art called _Masterpieces in Paint and Poetry_ by World Enterprises Books, which is part of Newton’s World Enterprises conglomerate.  We see a painting called _Landscape with the Fall of Icarus_ by what scholars now say is an unknown artist.  The painting is based on Greek mythology, telling the tragic fall of Icarus, which sounds a lot like what is happening to Newton and the Doctor.  

In the story, Daedalus, Icarus’ father who is a master craftsman, fashions 2 pairs of wings for himself and Icarus to escape from the Labyrinth where they, along with the Minotaur, are imprisoned. 

Before escaping, Daedalus warns his son of complacency and hubris, telling him not to fly too close to the sun with his wax wings, nor too close to the sea.  However, Wikipedia says, “overcome by the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared into the sky, but in the process he came too close to the sun, which due to the heat melted the wax.”  He fell into the sea and drowned.  His legs (red arrow) can be seen in the water just below the ship.  This is why Rory drowned in “The Curse of the Black Spot.”  

####  **Good Intentions Gone Wrong**

We know that Grant promised not to use his powers in TRODM, although he did to try to help people, and we know the Doctor promised not to use his TARDIS in “The Pilot.”

> **DOCTOR** : Will you all please just leave me alone? I can't do that any more. I promised!

He uses the TARDIS out of fear the first time with Bill to get away from possessed Heather; however, at the end of the episode, he breaks his promises, and like Icarus, he will fall.  

Since the 12th Doctor is mirroring Donna, she had to die in the parallel world in “Turn Left” that was built around her, the Doctor must die in this parallel universe or dimension.  

####  **Minotaur & “The God Complex”**

The Icarus story is connected to the Minotaur, shown below, that we saw in the 11th Doctor story “The God Complex,” where the hotel had rooms that manifested people’s worst fears.  The beast then came and drained their life forces, feeding on their fears and their worship of him.  The image is from the Tardis Wikia.  


Near the end of the episode, the Minotaur is dying:

> **AMY** : What's it saying?  
>  **DOCTOR** : An ancient creature, drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze. For such a creature, death would be a gift. Then accept it, and sleep well. I wasn't talking about myself.  
>  (The Minotaur dies.)

The Minotaur was talking about the Doctor.  It’s more foreshadowing for what is to come.  The Doctor doesn’t have to regenerate, even though we see him regenerating.  I don’t believe that is the final thing that will happen to the 12th Doctor.

**“Musée des Beaux Arts”**

In the movie, after focusing on the painting above, the camera then moves to the previous page of the art book.  It shows the 2nd stanza of “Musée des Beaux Arts” by W. H. Auden.  However, I’m posting the entire poem by Auden because once again it contains themes we have been talking about.  The Doctor as both savior and martyr has spent an eternity being tortured, and some people are waiting for the miraculous birth of The Ghost, the unactualized potential of the Doctor.

> “Musée des Beaux Arts”
> 
> W. H. Auden 
> 
> About suffering they were never wrong,  
>  The old Masters: how well they understood  
>  Its human position: how it takes place  
>  While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;  
>  How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting  
>  For the miraculous birth, there always must be  
>  Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating  
>  On a pond at the edge of the wood:  
>  They never forgot  
>  That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course  
>  Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot  
>  Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse  
>  Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
> 
> In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away  
>  Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may  
>  Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,  
>  But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone  
>  As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green  
>  Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen  
>  Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,  
>  Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on. 

The last stanza references two important things.  First, like the people on _Starship UK_ ignore the suffering of the Star Whale, people in the poem ignore the suffering of Icarus.  Second, the poem refers to Icarus as “a boy falling out of the sky.” 

It’s clear from Newton’s memories that he painted some of the paintings since scenes from his home planet morph into the paintings.  Is Newton a boy when we see him in the movie, even though he looks like an adult?  Obviously, he’s been on Earth for a while.  Because he is an alien, we can’t tell whether he is a boy of not.  

Newton has memories of people in the 1800s, so the subtext is suggesting Newton has been on Earth for about 100 years or more, yet he doesn’t age.  He is like Ashildr, a mirror of the Doctor.

####  **Did Newton Perform a Bootstrap Paradox?**

Newton’s paintings attributed to famous artists are exactly like what the Doctor was explaining to us in “Before the Flood” when he talked about the bootstrap paradox and hypothetically becoming Beethoven.  This suggests Newton came from the future of Earth, which makes perfectly good sense with what I saw in the movie.

Newton’s spaceship does not look spaceworthy, unless it’s a time machine, because it has a nearly horizontal sail.  Space is a vacuum, so the sail wouldn’t do much good.  In the image below, we see Newton leaving his 3 family members to come to Earth, or what appears to be his 3 family members  


Before Newton left his planet, the only other creatures we saw were 2 horses.  It makes me think either Newton is dreaming/hallucinating or the ship is meant to suggest he is from Earth’s future.  Therefore, the ship would be a time machine.  This novel was born from the Cold War, so I do believe this is meant to suggest our future.

If Newton did come from Earth’s future, he did a bootstrap paradox and became part of events.

We know the Doctor does bootstrap paradoxes and has done multiple ones, including one in “The Pilot.”

####  **Did the Doctor Fall to Earth?**

There is an escape pod in “The Fires of Pompeii” where Caecilius is.  And there is the Legend of the Blue Box with the demon falling to Earth, so the subtext suggests the Doctor fell to Earth.

####  **The Doctor as an Artist**

Like Newton, the 12th Doctor is an artist.  Moffat said the 12th Doctor painted the portrait of Clara, shown below, in the confession dial castle.  


Besides this, the subtext says the 12th Doctor is Rembrandt.  It’s another piece of evidence telling us the Doctor did a bootstrap paradox.  Rembrandt’s _Self-Portrait with Two Circles_ shows up in at least 3 of the 12th Doctor episodes, including “The Pilot.”  It’s front and center over the Doctor’s office mantel, shown below.  


####  **Inventions & Wealth**

“Newton patents many inventions, and amasses incredible wealth as the head of a technology-based conglomerate. He plans to use this wealth to construct space vehicles for the rest of the Anthean population.”

Newton’s motives are best explained by the book description. “He expresses the hope that the Antheans he will ferry to Earth will flourish and use their superior intelligence to help Earth achieve peace, prosperity, and safety.”

Like Newton, we’ve certainly seen the Doctor create inventions.  However, patents would be against what he, a Time Lord, would do.  What about him living as a human?  What about wealth as a human?  Both are possible.  In fact, we do see Caecilius, the Doctor as a human, wanting to get rich after the 10th Doctor saved his life.

> (Six months later. Caecilius is back in business and living in another top-class villa.)  
>  **CAECILIUS** : If I get that contract for the marble granaries of Alexandria, we'll be rich.

Like Newton, the Doctor does like to use his superior intelligence to help people achieve peace and safety.  However, things go wrong.

####  **Love & Corruption**

In the movie, the woman who falls in love with Newton is named Mary-Lou; however, she is Betty Jo in the book.  Newton seems to have an inadvertent psychic influence on Mary-Lou, who seems to overly smitten with him.  Strangely, she also picks him up and carries him after he faints, so there’s more going on than it appears.

“Along the way he meets Betty Jo, who falls in love with him. He does not return these feelings, but takes her and his curious fuel-technician Nathan Bryce as his friends, while he runs his company in the shadows. Betty Jo introduces Newton to many Earth customs, such as church, fashion, and alcohol. However, his appetite for alcohol soon leads to problems, as he begins to experience intense emotions unfamiliar to Antheans.” 

Mary-Lou initially sexually preys on Newton, although it may be due to his psychic powers, and she makes him think he should drink alcohol.  She is an alcoholic and turns him into one.

In comparison to Newton, this is the area with the Doctor that is least clear.  Alcohol does show up in multiple episodes with the 12th Doctor, Clara, and River.

Since the Doctor changes everyone who comes into his TARDIS, we could possibly say he corrupts them.

In “The End of Time” part 1, the Doctor told the Ood:

> **DOCTOR** : The Master took the name of Saxon. He married a human, a woman called Lucy. And he corrupted her. She stood at his side while he conquered the Earth. I reversed everything he'd done so it never even happened, but Lucy Saxon remembered. I held him in my arms. I burnt his body. The Master is dead.

####  **Desert Vs. Flood**

The deserts of Anthea, Gallifrey, and Skaro are striking.  However, there are times we see water scenes on Anthea in more shocking ways.  For example, Newton and his family wear water (or some type of liquid) packs on their backs with liquid flowing around the network of tubes surrounding their bodies.  

Then, there were also images of 1 or 2 people doing what looked like acrobatic work in mid-air, shown below, with water or some type of liquid coming off of them.  


The water coming off of Heather is a reference to the 10th Doctor story “The Waters of Mars,” where the Doctor becomes Time Lord Victorious and gets cursed or becomes Rassilon.  

I can’t help but wonder, though, did the Doctor initially come on an errand of mercy and failed like Newton?  Is the water with Heather meant as the Doctor’s nightmare of failing?  It certainly looks like Gallifrey needs water.

Not only did we see Heather dripping with water, but also we saw water coming down the steps and the giant eruption of water on that weird Ood-like planet.  It looked like there might be a flood.  The eruption of water is reminiscent of the “Before the Flood” when the dam broke.

Water says a lot about emotions, as well as being a symbol of both life and death, depending on the context.  The Doctor’s emotions were dammed but now are flowing.

####  **Dreaming or Hallucinating?**

At some point in the second half of the movie, Newton is in the hands of a group of scientists or doctors running tests, although we don’t know who they are.   Authorities keep pushing alcohol on him to keep him off balance.  He is held in a weird location, although he seems to be free right at the end.  

In the book, the CIA watches him from the beginning and at some point arrests him.  Once they release him, the FBI arrests him and runs tests.  Why would the CIA let an extraterrestrial out in public?  That’s just one more example of how things don’t make sense.

It’s clear at some points that Newton is dreaming or hallucinating or having a schizophrenic episode.  At one point, he has 5 to 7 televisions on.  He blurts out something like “Get out of my head!”  He does not appear to be in custody at this point.  However, we can’t be sure.  I believe the televisions represent voices in his head, or his words could mean the government is doing something to him.

It’s clear that many things in the movie are odd and most likely aren’t happening the way they appear.  Most likely, Newton has been controlled in similar ways the Doctor has.

####  **Eye Color**

Why does Newton have 2 different irises when they are actually contacts?  If he wants to remain a hidden alien, his contacts would be the same color.  That doesn’t make sense unless he is dreaming or hallucinating.  When he takes them out, his eyes are like yellow snake eyes.  

In comparison, Heather’s odd star in her eye represents multiple things:

  * She is dazzled or enraptured, especially with romance
  * In the 9th Doctor episode “Bad Wolf,” the Game Station had a game “Stars in Their Eyes,” which as Lynda said, “Literally, stars in their eyes. If you don't sing, you get blinded.”
  * She represents the Doctor, as well as the humanoid alien, Newton, from _The Man Who Fell to Earth_
  * The star may also represent the Eye of Harmony



 

Heather must have been on the Game Station in approximately the year 200,100, which was controlled by Daleks.  She is a time traveler, and she is a mirror of the Doctor.  

####  **Blindness**

The movie never shows Newton being blinded by the authorities who imprison him, although they did damage his eyes.  The authorities X-ray his eyes, and permanently adhere his contacts to them.

However, in the book, the FBI X-rays Newton's skull through his eyes, which are sensitive to X-rays.  Since he is unable to stop them, the procedure blinds him.  

In DW, blindness and X-ray eyes have both come up, which comes back to the question: is the Doctor blind physically or metaphorically?  Or both? 

####  **Superhuman Abilities**

**Telepathic**  
The subtext suggests that Newton has mental powers that inadvertently affect other people.  The camera switches back and forth between Newton and other people.  For example, Newton watches a kabuki play with violence and a couple of people react. Also, Mary-Lou initially preyed on him sexually, and that gets reflected to other people, too. 

We know the Doctor is telepathic and can affect people.  For example, in “Last Christmas,” he was able to somehow cause people to be in a gestalt dream with him. Except for Clara, the others were collateral damage.

> **DOCTOR** : The Dream Crabs must have got to me first then found you in my memory. The others were collateral damage. Well, good to see you properly at last. How long has it been? Clara.

**Seems to Be Effecting People’s DNA**  
Additionally, Newton is having an effect on people’s DNA.  For example, there are a couple of people with coke-bottle glasses, which the subtext shows they mirror Newton.  Mary-Lou is stronger than she probably should be.  

In DW, we haven’t seen this in canon yet, but we most likely will.  

**Doesn’t Age While Others Do**  
Newton doesn’t age while those around him have gotten much older by the end of the movie.  

The Doctor doesn’t age the way humans do, but instead regenerates.

####  **Reincarnation or Possession**

Two men with ties to Newton get thrown out the window, but they reincarnate into new bodies or possess them.

DW is also using the term possession.  In “The Pilot,” Bill actually mentions it.  She suggests that a lizard possessed Heather.  That’s really interesting since Lizards are another metaphor for Silurians and Dinosaurs.  Lizards could also be a metaphor for Zygons, who have been referred to as reptiles.  The voice in the puddle sounds like a Zygon.  In fact, in “The Zygon Invasion” and “The Zygon Inversion,” the odd dialogue by the Doctor tells us that he was duplicated.  

Duplication comes up in “The Pilot.”  In fact, the Doctor and Bill are looking at the puddle:

> **DOCTOR** : It's not reflecting you. It's mimicking you. There's something in the water pretending to be you.

We know the Doctor got possessed by something, who has been mind controlling him.  Similarly, Heather gets possessed by a super-intelligent, shape-shifting alien. 

####  **Not Complete without His Family Group**

In the movie, one other thing that the subtext suggests is that Newton is not complete without his family.  And possibly some of the bad things happen because he isn’t complete.  

In this image below, Newton has 3 reflections.  


Interestingly, one of Newton’s employees takes an X-ray of Newton.  It’s an odd X-ray, shown below.  It most likely means that Newton is really 4+ people: Newton + 3 other ghostly layers + plus possibly another ghostly glow.  Is Newton missing one or so of his family members in the reflection above?  Since DW is using integrations, I’m taking the movie this way.  


DW does have a similar image.  In “A Good Man Goes to War,” baby Melody Pond, as shown in the image below, is not just one person.  She is very distorted and doesn’t look human.  Her main form is indicated by the red arrow.  She has a small ghostly image (magenta arrow) and then a tall ghostly image (blue arrow).  


These are the 3 faces of the Doctor, 3 people in one.  The Ghost is most likely represented by the blue arrow.

Integrations are huge in “The Pilot.”   Heather is a face of the Doctor.  Like Heather, the Doctor has never wanted to settle down, except for the last 2+ episodes.  

At the end of “The Pilot,” Heather and Bill touch hands and the universe explodes in Bill’s mind. 

> **DOCTOR** [OC]: Bill, listen to me. Whatever she's showing you, whatever she's letting you see. It's a lure, it's a trap. She's making you part of her, and you can never come back.  
>  **BILL** [OC]: I see what you see. It's beautiful.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Bill, let go! You have to let go! She is not human any more.

The Doctor is talking about himself.  In fact, to prove that Heather is the Doctor, Bill, at the end, has a guitar necklace (red arrow) on, telling us she has integrated with him.  


**Bill’s Tears**  
The tears Bill sheds aren’t her own.  They are the Doctor’s.  It’s why he said Bill was OK before he ran away.  He can affect other people mentally.

He said Heather wouldn’t be back because he expected to do a mind wipe on Bill.  However, since he didn’t do the mind wipe, Heather should be back.

 **Shape Shifting**  
As a mind of pure consciousness, the Doctor can shape shift, and travel across the universe very quickly.

####  **Newton’s Tragic Ending**

Newton’s tragic story in the movie was bizarre and very sad.  He never went back to his planet.  However, he recorded a song for his wife that he hoped she would hear, but even more tragically she and his family had already died.  In the book, he became bitter about being unable to continue building his spaceship because of the blindness.

####  **The Doctor’s Own Ending?**

The Doctor’s story has been tragic enough.  We should get a much happier ending for the Doctor.  The Doctor’s family has the ability to look for him.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the 1st Doctor since we have gone all the way back to the beginning.

Did the Doctor, a child, inadvertently cause the Time War by breaking his promise and making himself a target, alerting people to his abilities?

##  **_The Time Traveler’s Wife_** ** & “The Pilot”**

nuWho has been drawing heavily from the 2003 novel _The Time Traveler’s Wife_ , especially with River’s and Amy’s stories.  However, the novel is still governing the Doctor’s story.  In fact, there are a couple of big references in “The Pilot.”  

In the movie version of _The Time Traveler’s Wife_ , the song [“Love Will Tear Us Apart”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Will_Tear_Us_Apart) by Joy Division plays during the wedding.  It’s a terrible song to play during a wedding and spells tragedy.  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No>   According to Wikipedia, “the lyrics ostensibly reflect the problems in [singer and guitarist Ian Curtis’] marriage to Deborah Curtis, as well as his general frame of mind in the time leading up to his suicide.”  

**“The Pilot”**

In “The Pilot,” "Love Will Tear Us Apart" plays twice.  The first time is in the bar with Bill and Heather.  The Doctor’s words are ironic and sad, especially when we consider Heather is a face of the Doctor.

> **[Bar]**
> 
> (Bill's eyes meet those of another woman across a crowded bar.)  
>  **DOCTOR** [OC]: Time is a structure relative to ourselves.  
>  **BILL** : I'll get them in.  
>  **DOCTOR** : [OC]: Time is the space made by our lives where we stand together, forever.
> 
> **[Lecture hall]**
> 
> **DOCTOR** : Time And Relative Dimension In Space. It means life.

The second time we hear "Love Will Tear Us Apart," it’s much more difficult to pick out because it’s very quiet.  Bill clandestinely follows Nardole and the Doctor (like Clara did in “The Snowmen) down to the Vault. 

**“Dark Water”**

We see a visual of the novel on one of the 12th Doctor’s bookshelves in “Dark Water.”  Clara pulls out the book, shown below, because the Doctor keeps one of his TARDIS keys in it.  She collects all the keys to blackmail the Doctor into bringing Danny Pink back to life after his death.  


####  **Genetic Disorder**

I haven’t read the novel, but I did watch the movie.  I felt like I was watching DW.  As Wikipedia says, “It is a love story about a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about his wife, an artist, who has to cope with his frequent absences and dangerous experiences.” 

I highly recommend that if you haven’t read the novel or seen the movie that you do so.  

In the novel, Henry DeTamble (born 1963 – same year DW started) starts time traveling at the age of 5, due to subconscious thought.  Much later in his life his disorder becomes known as Chrono-Impairment.  Jumping backward and forward in time along his timeline happens especially when something stresses him.  However, wherever he time travels, he arrives naked.

At the opening of the movie, Henry, aged 5 is in the middle of a car accident with his mother when he time travels and ends up watching the accident outside of the car.  His older self travels to him, wrapping a blanket around the boy. 

####  **First Time Meeting Future Wife in the Library**

Henry, a 28-year-old librarian, first meets his future wife, 20-year-old Clare at the library.  She’s elated to see him.  However, while she has known him most of her life, he has never seen her.  She hasn’t seen him this young before and knows him as an older, more worldly person.

Clare explains that she met Henry's future self when she was a child, and that he informed her then that they would meet in the future, which is happening at the moment.  

The Library meeting sounds so much like the 10th Doctor and River.  Similar to Clare telling Henry something about their past, River tells the Doctor about their night on Darillium.

####  **Childhood Friends**

Throughout Clare’s childhood and adolescence, Henry has been Clare's best friend and visits her quite a few times.  In childhood, Clare develops a crush on Henry and is upset after learning that he is married.  (It’s actually him in the future.)

In comparison to DW, here’s where it gets weird because River is a hidden face of Amy, so we need to look at Amy.  As a child Amy developed a crush on the Doctor, who was absent from her life for 12 years.  In his absence, she had Rory, her childhood friend, dress up as “the raggedy Doctor.”

When Clare turns 18, which is two years before their meeting at the library, the older Henry kisses Clare, leading her to realize that he is romantically involved with her and thus is her husband in the future.  
We see Henry time traveling and having to break into cars and things to get whatever clothes he can.  He gets out of arrests by being able to dematerialize when caught.

He starts time traveling to Clare’s childhood when she is 6 and continues visiting her into adolescence.  He gives her a list of dates he will travel to see her, and she writes them in her diary to make sure she leaves food and clothes for him.  At one point, she says she hopes to marry him in the future, and he does give in to telling her the spoiler.

He gets jealous of a different version of himself with Clare.  This was referenced in TRODM with Lucy jealous of herself and Grant jealous of himself.

####  **Multiple Miscarriages**

After they marry, she has multiple miscarriages, which they presume due to the genetic disorder.  Henry seeks out a geneticist, who thinks Henry is crazy at first.  After several miscarriages, Henry gives up and has a vasectomy to save Clare the pain, but doesn’t tell her right away.  She is furious when she finds out, and it’s clear his time traveling has been putting a strain on their marriage.  

One night, Henry, Clare, and some friends hear a noise from another room.  They see Henry’s future self as he’s dying from a gunshot wound, but he dematerializes before they can do anything.

A younger version of Henry shows up, and he and Clare make love.  She gets pregnant, and the geneticist takes Henry seriously.  One day, Henry travels forward in time and meets his 10-year-old daughter, Alba, at the zoo, so he knows the child that Clare is carrying survives.  His daughter time travels, too, but she has more control over her disorder.

Shortly before he dies, he time travels to a very cold place and gets frostbite on his leg.  (In the book, he has both feet amputated.)  Even though in the movie he doesn’t lose his leg, he ends up in a wheelchair.  He knows his life will end soon at the age of 43 because he can’t run, and he saw the future.

One night, he time travels into a hunting area where Clare’s father is hunting a deer and shoots Henry by accident.  He ends up returning to the present and dying in Clare’s arms when his daughter is 5.

Even after he dies, his younger self keeps showing up, and Clare keeps leaving clothes for him.  He time travels to a meadow and sees his 8-year-old daughter with some friends.  She runs to get her mother.  Clare runs out to the meadow happy to see Henry.


	2. The Characters' Journeys (Updated)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a analysis of the long journey the characters make from start to finish.
> 
> Season 10 spoiler warnings

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/159881334623/ch-2-the-pilot-analysis-doctor-who-s10-the/)

##  **Time & Character Roles**

Time is a huge factor in this episode.  We know the Doctor executed a bootstrap paradox, but time is referred to 27 times in various ways, for example:

  * TARDIS: Time and Relative Dimension in Space – this is the first time we hear the Doctor say, “It means life.”  Wow!
  * The Doctor has been lecturing at the university for a long time 50-70 or so years!  Wow!
  * The Doctor tells Bill not to be late because he’s particular about time.  Wow!
  * The Doctor says, “Time doesn't pass”



Bill and the Doctor, especially in the subtext, are very different at the beginning of the episode than they are at the end.  In fact, “The Pilot” is a study in how characters and subtext characterizations change over Time.

Instead of discussing everything about each of the characters all at once, it’s important to establish who they are initially and why they are in the roles they are at the beginning of the episode.  Bill is a complex character, who becomes more complex, or at least it’s recognizable as the episode goes on.  Then, we can compare what’s happening later.

##  **The Opening Scene: Our First Look at the Characters**

##  **Who Is Bill?**

At the beginning of “The Pilot,” Nardole shows Bill into the Doctor’s office, and we see this image below.  Bill is standing next to Joshua Reynold’s _A Bachante,_ which is portrait of Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton, who was Admiral Nelson’s mistress.  One of the interesting things about this particular portrait is that the British Museum has a print.  The museum is the setting for the Library episodes, as well as the Pandorica.  


In a previous chapter, we saw the image below from “In the Forest of the Night,” which told us that Admiral Nelson was a metaphor for the Doctor, and I should also add Clara.  Both nearly got crushed by the monument when it fell.  Nelson fell in battle, which tells us the Doctor is going to fall in battle.  


Because Bill is sitting directly behind River's picture that is on the Doctor's desk, Bill is a mirror for River. She also has big hair like River.

The Doctor wants to know why Bill is coming to his lectures even though she’s not a student.  She tells him this story of how she sees a beautiful university student and gives her extra chips but the woman doesn’t notice Bill, until one day when things change.  However, Bill realizes she’s changed the woman by making her fat, but she doesn’t care.   

It’s an odd story, but it has 4 purposes:

  * “Fat” is another reference to the 9th Doctor episode “Bad Wolf,” **so I’m expecting Rose to show up in Season 10**  
  
**DOCTOR** : So the population just sits there? Half the world's too fat, and half the world's too thin, and you lot just watch telly?  

  * By changing the woman who eats chips, Bill mirrors the Doctor changing those who travel with him; Bill calls what she did to the woman a perversion.  Perhaps that is why the Doctor decides to take up a university post
  * “Chips” is a reference to Rose being the dinner lady in the 10th Doctor’s story “School Reunion,” where we first saw Sarah Jane and Rose together
  * Heather (the Doctor) changes but Bill doesn’t care



Bill starts out mirroring Rose by design because Moffat wants us to know that this story is going back to at least Rose.  Like her, Bill is working way below her potential, and the Doctor knows it.  

When Bill asks the Doctor why he is helping her, he looks at Susan, so Bill is mirroring, most likely, Susan, too.

####  **The TARDIS & Dimension Vs. Dimensions**

The TARDIS is a character in its own right.  Before we see the Doctor, Bill walks over to the TARDIS.  It’s looking neglected for a couple of reasons.  First, it needs a new coat of paint.  Second, there’s the Out of Order sign.  The 1st Doctor would use the sign, showing up for the first time in “The War Machines” episode.  


####  **The TARDIS & the Parallel Dimension **

I’m not exactly sure what to call the universe the Doctor is in.  It might be a parallel dimension or dimensional plane since the Doctor used “dimension” instead of “dimensions” when giving the definition of the acronym for TARDIS.  

Interestingly, he is using Susan’s definition for the TARDIS acronym from the very first DW episode [“The Unearthly Child.” ](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/1-1.htm) It’s another nice callback that tells us he has gone back to the 1st Doctor’s story. 

> **SUSAN** : The Tardis can go anywhere.  
>  **BARBARA** : Tardis? I don't understand you, Susan.  
>  **SUSAN** : Well, I made up the name Tardis from the initials, Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I thought you'd both understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside.

While “dimension” is an allusion to Susan’s acronym, it feels like this is even more of a clue to where they are.

##  **Who Is Nardole?**

Nardole’s hand looks like it is holding up the Emma Hart portrait above.  His arm, for one, is creaky.  This suggests to me that he potentially is the Hand of Omega.  He actually is a face of the Doctor, representing the alien child, who has a lot of fears and who is a cyborg.  

In THORS, once he got integrated into Hydroflax, Nardole was afraid of heights and flying.  That represented the Doctor’s fear of flying.  Since the Doctor has to rid himself of fears and other negative emotions for the Great Work, he had to face flying with Grant in TRODM.  

Nardole loses a part (red arrow) and kicks it under the furniture, which seems like it will play a part in a future episode.  


Nardole’s creakiness, like the neglected paint on the TARDIS, suggests the Doctor is neglecting himself in an effort to settle down and make a home for himself because of promises.  The Doctor has needed Nardole to keep reminding him to live.

##  **The Doctor’s Granddaughter**

I was SO excited to see the photograph of Susan Foreman on the Doctor’s desk.  This is an example of how we are finally seeing this very long 50-year+ story being tied together in such important ways.   


While her photo and frame aren’t exactly a circle and a square, the Circle in the Square metaphor of uniting opposites still holds.  Susan looked like she was becoming a djinni as her episodes went on.

In the 1st Doctor stories, Susan and the Doctor were enigmas.  He seemed like a devious, petulant child and she, although looking like a teenager, seemed like the much smarter, wiser adult in the relationship.  

The last time we saw her was in the 5th Doctor’s story for the 20th anniversary, “The Five Doctors.”  

However, the last time she was a regular was in the 1st Doctor’s story, “The Dalek Invasion of Earth.”  The Doctor promised to come back to see her.

> **DOCTOR** : One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. 

He didn’t really come back for her in “The Five Doctors.”

####  **Is She Really Who We Think She Is?**

When she, the Doctor, Ian, and Barbara were exposed to radiation, she was the only one who had few symptoms of illness while the others got very sick, especially the Doctor.  This is just one example of how she seemed different.  I really doubt that he was her grandfather.  I think that they had to take on those human roles to survive.  Because Time Lords can regenerate into older or younger forms, we can’t be sure those roles were correct, unless we get more information. 

Anyway, the mystery of who they were extended to what started to happen in the TARDIS.  Controls would move by themselves.  Was it related to the Doctor adding sentience to the TARDIS?  It seemed more than that to me.  They ended up suggesting it was the TARDIS trying to warn them of a disaster, but I’m not convinced.  It’s just the sort of misdirection that DW loves to use.

Oddities extended outside the TARDIS too.  For example, an injury to the party ended up becoming permanent to someone else.  It was like injury as a plague, although on a more singular level.  Thoughts becoming reality seemed to be happening there, too.

I need to go back and watch all the 1st Doctor stories to get a better idea of what was happening.  However, it looked like some type of invisible creature was in the TARDIS, and it possessed different people in the ship. On a single viewing of the episodes, I couldn’t tell if it was the Doctor, Susan, or TARDIS causing it, and I stopped watching the 1st Doctor shortly after the Doctor left her in the 29th century.  I’ll get back to watching those episodes at some point after Season 10 is over.   Because the video is in black and white and can be grainy, the subtext clues can be more difficult to decipher.

##  **River**

River is in a square-ish frame here, which is really interesting.  It not only suggests that she has not integrated with the Doctor, but also it implies they are not married.  In fact, there is another portrait behind River of Lady Hamilton from a different artist.  It’s George Romney’s _Lady Hamilton in a Straw Hat_ , 1785.  This is another tie-in between Bill and River.  However, Bill’s portrait from 1784 represents a younger and more carefree version before Emma became Lady Hamilton.  


##  **The Doctor**

Because the Season 10 opener is a reboot and part of the bootstrap paradox, we get to see the Doctor in a new light.  The opening scene shows his big office.  

The container on the Doctor’s desk looks like it contains most of the Doctor’s sonic screwdrivers, which is really interesting.  It’s a symbol of him playing most of the Doctors in this episode.  At one point, he doesn’t even recognize his face because he’s really changing constantly.  


####  **Why the Doctor Is a Professor**

The Doctor lecturing at a university for many years is an idea from Classic Who.  It’s a reference to a 4th Doctor story by Douglas Adams called “Shada.”  However, filming was never completed due to a “labor action.”  In the story, Professor Chronitis spent years lecturing at the fictitious St. Cedd’s College, Cambridge.

Since the TARDIS Wikia’s synopsis for [“Shada”](http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Shada_\(TV_story\)) has some themes that go along with what we’ve been talking about, it seems relevant to show you: 

> The story revolves around the lost planet Shada, on which the Time Lords built a prison for defeated would-be conquerors of the universe. Skagra, one such inmate, needs the help of one of the prison's inmates. He finds nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retired to Earth, where he is a professor at St. Cedd's College, Cambridge. Luckily for the universe, Skagra's attempt to force the information out of Professor Chronotis coincides with a visit by the professor's old friend, the Fourth Doctor.

By going hell bent through the universe, the Doctor could be considered a would-be conqueror of it.  Does Bill showing up represent Icarus’ father, Daedalus, fashioning wings for his son so they can fly away from the Labyrinth prison?  Heather, a face of the Doctor, did want to leave.

Also, we know this is not the real universe, and the Doctor is stuck here due to promises, at least in part.

While the 7th Doctor told his new companion, Ace, to call him Doctor, she called him Professor.

“Professor” is a level that refers to the Sun stage of the Great Work.  It can also be a clergyman or orator.  The Christian crosses that we’ve seen can relate to the clergyman, and the orator certainly relates to the Doctor’s speech we see at the beginning of the episode.  It feels like he is giving a TED talk, rather than a lecture.   No wonder the students are enraptured by his talks.  

According to Marie-Louise von Franz, who was a Jungian psychologist and scholar, “words” are a symbol of the professor, clergyman, or orator.  In fact, this is a reference to “Hell Bent,” where words are the Doctor’s weapons. <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/35-12.html>

> (The Doctor is lying on his childhood bed, staring at nothing and twiddling his thumbs.)  
>  **GENERAL** [OC]: We could talk to him.  
>  **RASSILON** [OC]: Words are his weapons.  
>  **GENERAL** [OC]: When did they stop being ours?

Because this is the Sun stage, the Doctor hasn’t realized his potential, which is evidenced by the sealed Vault, too.  He has to move on if he is to save everyone.  At the Sun stage, he is still creating a plague, as represented by the plague cross (red arrow) in the image below.  


####  **The Doctor Is a Fish**

The Doctor is associated with a fish in this opening scene.  There is a hidden one that shows up in a later scene.  There must be 2 to escape this prison, so it’s significant there is only 1 fish shown.  He is languishing here.  


####  **The Doctor & the Record Label**

The Master is referenced in this opening scene while Bill is talking about chips.  The record label, red arrow, says, “His Master’s Voice.”  It’s a famous trademark in the music and recording industry.  It’s based on a painting by English artist Francis Barraud and titled _His Master's Voice_.   So we have the Master and the beast is the dog, Nipper.  They are a reference back to “The Beast Below.”  


##  **The Eye of Harmony on the Doctor’s Desk**

Lamps, shown below (white arrows), in the shape of helmets showed up in “The Planet of the Ood,” so we know that lamps can represent helmets and the Eye of Harmony.

The interesting arrangement on the Doctor’s desk, shown below, of River’s and Susan’s photos along with a crystal ball and a lamp that looks like an eye are meant to symbolize the Eye of Harmony.   


The crystal ball is not only a symbol of prophesies of the Eye, but also the ball symbolizes the distortion of a black hole, represented by the distorted images on the ball.  Therefore, River and Susan are part of the Eye of Harmony.  The lamp, helmet, is overlapping River’s frame, while the ball’s shadow falls on Susan.  The frames might represent their imprisonment in the Eye, especially Susan since the distortion falls on her image.  She may be the center of the Black Hole.

The lamp here is turned off, though, while later it is on, so this would tend to suggest that the Eye is not active right now.  This is an example of how learning to read subtext is a never-ending job.  We need to keep our eye on this arrangement to see how it is used over time.

##  **Rhymes, Lemons & the Doctor’s Head**

Rhymes have a huge amount of associated subtext in nuWho, so one word conjures a great many thoughts about this subject.  This is not an extensive explanation of rhymes, but hopefully, it will give you an idea of what’s happening and some of the referential meanings.

Rhymes have played a big role, especially in nuWho and the 11th Doctor’s stories with Madame Korvarian.  She is the eye patch lady, who is part of the religious movement known as the Silence.  However, she broke off into a splinter group, representing the Kovarian Chapter.  She kidnapped Amy and Melody Pond, so we are back to “A Good Man Goes to War.”

Because the 12th Doctor is the focus of all that has happened, it’s not surprising that rhymes would play a big role in Season 10.  In “The Pilot,” the Doctor mentions rhymes twice, making odd comparisons.  The first time is when Bill asks why the Doctor was lecturing on poetry when his lecture was supposed to be on quantum physics.

> **DOCTOR** : Poetry, physics, same thing.  
>  **BILL** : How is it the same?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Because of the rhymes. 

The second time Nardole asks the Doctor about teaching Bill everything:

> **NARDOLE** [OC] Well, how can you teach anyone everything?  
>  **DOCTOR** [OC]: Because everything rhymes.

The Doctor is associated with Shakespeare (red arrow), a reference to the 10th Doctor story “The Shakespeare Code.”   


Later, the Doctor makes a joke on the Ood-like planet about the sky being made of lemon drops.  Coupled with rhymes and the reference to _The Man Who Fell to Earth_ , there is the reference to the morbid rhyme in “The God Complex,” which includes candles.  Not only is the Doctor’s time running out in the image below, his head is on the chopping block, as referenced by the candle holder.  


####  **“The Shakespeare Code”**

In “The Shakespeare Code,” 3 witches, who are Carrionites from the Dark Times of the universe, cast a spell on Shakespeare to make him write his lost play _Love's Labour's Won_.  Performing the play will bring their lost species back.

Shakespeare was the wordsmith, which comes back to the 12th Doctor’s words as a Professor.  Also, the setting was at the Globe Theater, and there just happens to be that globe crystal ball, similar to the one in the Shakespeare episode on the Doctor’s desk in “The Pilot.”

In “The Shakespeare Code,” Shakespeare is the only who can stop the witches, but the 10th Doctor has to make him believe.  This has a direct relationship to what is happening in this 10th season:

> (The Doctor runs out onto the stage, followed by Martha and Shakespeare.)  
>  **LILITH** : The Doctor. He lives. Then watch this world become a blasted heath! (Macbeth) They come. They come!  
>  (Lilith holds the crystal out into the red light and bat-like creatures fly into the theatre. They circle a bit then fly up into the sky.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : Come on, Will! History needs you!  
>  **SHAKESPEARE** : But what can I do?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Reverse it!  
>  **SHAKESPEARE** : How am I supposed to do that?  
>  **DOCTOR** : The shape of the Globe gives words power, but you're the wordsmith, the one true genius. The only man clever enough to do it.  
>  **SHAKESPEARE** : But what words? I have none ready!  
>  **DOCTOR** : You're William Shakespeare!  
>  **SHAKESPEARE** : But these Carrionite phrases, the need such precision.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Trust yourself. When you're locked away in your room, the words just come, don't they, like magic. Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm. Words that last forever. That's what you do, Will. You choose perfect words. Do it. Improvise.  
>  **SHAKESPEARE** : Close up this din of hateful, dire decay, decomposition of your witches' plot. You thieve my brains, consider me your toy. My doting Doctor tells me I am not!

Therefore, the 12th Doctor is the only one who can fix this problem with coaxing from the people around him.

####  **“The God Complex”**

In “The God Complex,” besides the Minotaur, there is a reference to the “Oranges and Lemons” nursery rhyme.  According to Wikipedia, "[’Oranges and Lemons’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oranges_and_Lemons) is a traditional English nursery rhyme and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London.”

> ####  **“Oranges and Lemons”**
> 
> Gay go up, and gay go down,  
>  To ring the bells of London town.
> 
> Bull's eyes and targets,  
>  Say the bells of St. Marg'ret's.
> 
> Brickbats and tiles,  
>  Say the bells of St. Giles'.
> 
> Halfpence and farthings,  
>  Say the bells of St. Martin's.
> 
> Oranges and lemons,  
>  Say the bells of St. Clement's.
> 
> Pancakes and fritters,  
>  Say the bells of St. Peter's.
> 
> Two sticks and an apple,  
>  Say the bells at Whitechapel.
> 
> Old Father Baldpate,  
>  Say the slow bells at Aldgate.
> 
> You owe me ten shillings,  
>  Say the bells at St. Helen's.
> 
> Pokers and tongs,  
>  Say the bells at St. John's.
> 
> Kettles and pans,  
>  Say the bells at St. Ann's.
> 
> When will you pay me?  
>  Say the bells of Old Bailey.
> 
> When I grow rich,  
>  Say the bells of Shoreditch.
> 
> Pray when will that be?  
>  Say the bells of Stepney.
> 
> I am sure I don't know,  
>  Says the great bell of Bow.
> 
> Here comes a candle to light you to bed,  
>  And here comes a chopper to chop off your head.

The pokers and tongs, associated with the bells at St. John's, is a reference to the Tower of London.  St. John’s is a chapel in the Tower.  Therefore, the pokers and tongs represent torture, imprisonment, and decapitation.

Interestingly, Shoreditch is where Coal Hill School is.  Also of interest is the great bell of Bow.  While the Face of Boe is spelled differently, I’m betting that the Face of Boe is a reference to this rhyme.  I won’t be surprised if the Face of Boe shows up because his head is what I think of when the Doctor’s head is on the chopping block.

##  **St John Ambulance Symbol: Torture & Healing**

The St. John Ambulance logo was on the 1st Doctor’s TARDIS; however, it disappeared from Classic Who after that.  In DavMoff eps, the logo showed up near the end of the 11th Doctor’s first episode, “The Eleventh Hour,” and disappears several times when the TARDIS is in flight in certain episodes.  However, it’s always on the TARDIS when grounded.  


The St John Ambulance symbol on the TARDIS is a symbol of both torture and healing.  The St John part refers to the Tower of London.  However, the Ambulance part really does refer to healing.  The Doctor is going through torture to be healed from the war and all leading up to it.

Torture conjures up a lot of subtext, too.  However, we need to look back to the Library and how the 12th Doctor, not being with River in the Library before she dies and River telling the 10th Doctor their future, set him into a torturous loop.

##  **Stuck in Looped Time**

One of the main themes is how Time changes the Doctor, and the best example is at the end of the episode.  (I’m putting it here because I believe we have been stuck in looped time.)

The Doctor just went through a tizzy in his office because he promised not to use his TARDIS (his mental powers).  However, he decided to break his promises.

> **DOCTOR** : It's a big universe, but maybe one day we'll find her.  
>  (The Doctor is standing next to the Tardis.)  
>  **BILL** : What changed your mind?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Time.   
>  **BILL** : Time?  
>  **DOCTOR** : And Relative Dimension In Space.  
>  (He clicks his fingers and the Tardis door opens.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : It means, what the hell?  
>  (Bill joins him in the Tardis.)

Bootstrap paradoxes can create problems because one can become stuck in a loop.  For example, because the 12th Doctor was not there to be with River in the Library just before she died, the 10th Doctor had to save her.  River enslaves the Doctor with knowledge of their future on Darillium.  

Knowing when one’s beloved is going to die and having to decide their time of death is a horrific burden to bear, but that’s what the Doctor has had to live with.  This is echoed in “A Christmas Carol” with Kazran Sardick, who is a mirror of the Doctor.  Kazran is keeping Abigail on ice because she has one day left to live.  (This mirrors how the Doctor was ignoring Darillium and River’s wish of spending the night of her life with him.)  Sardick asks the Doctor about the all-too-painful subject:  <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/32-0.htm>

> **SARDICK** : Could you do it? Could you do this? Think about it, Doctor. One last day with your beloved. Which day would you choose?

This set up looped time.  And this has to change, or Gallifrey has to be time-locked or moved, for example.  This is really a chicken and the egg problem.  Did this looped-time problem first start with River or the Doctor?

Did the Doctor execute another bootstrap paradox to try to fix the Library problem?  That’s what we are watching.  The end of the episode certainly suggests this is true.

##  **24 Years with River, _Doctor Faustus_ & Payment in Hell?**

Is DW doing _Doctor Faustus_?  I’ve had this question since I first saw the end of THORS with the Doctor spending 24 years with River.  Twenty-four is a very suspect number, especially since it’s equivalent to 24 hours in a day.  It can mean 2 Doctors, which we know she was spending time with from the 11th Doctor’s episodes.  Twenty-four years also is representative of the number of years Faustus had on Earth.

BTW, River mentioned that the Doctor took her to the Frost Fair in 1814 in “A Good Man Goes to War.”  We are going to be visiting the Frost Fair in 1814 in Season 10.  Bill represents River, in part. 

####  **_Doctor Faustus_ **

According to Wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Faustus_(play>) 

> _The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus_ , commonly referred to simply as _Doctor Faustus_ , is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title character Faust, that was first performed sometime between 1588 and Marlowe's death in 1593.

> Faustus's tale is likened to that of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and fell to his death when the sun melted his waxen wings. This is a hint to Faustus's end as well as bringing to the reader's attention the idea of hubris (excessive pride), which is represented in the Icarus story and ultimately Faustus'.

Here’s another tie-in to the Icarus story, so it seems that the Doctor is paying in Hell for all that’s happened.

> Faustus strikes a Deal with Lucifer: he is to be allotted 24 years of life on Earth, during which time he will have Mephistophilis as his personal servant and the ability to use magic; however, at the end he would give his body and soul over to Lucifer as payment and spend the rest of time as one damned to Hell. 

> When Faustus announces his intention to renounce magic and repent, Mephistophilis storms away. The good and evil angels return to Faustus: the good angel urges him to repent and recant his oath to Lucifer, but the evil angel sneers that Faustus will never repent. This is the largest fault of Faustus throughout the play: he is blind to his own salvation and remains set on his soul's damnation.

Here’s a reference to metaphorical blindness.  This is very true with what we’ve seen.

##  **Heather, Possession & Healing**

Heather is a very interesting character from a subtext point of view, especially since she most likely represents the wife of the 1st Doctor.  I’m going with that assumption here.  She and Bill have a love-at-first-sight thing going, or is it?

I actually don’t think so, and I believe it comes back to the blood calling blood that the 11th Doctor mentioned in “Hide” when they went “ghost” hunting.  Because the Doctor has done memory wipes and is stuck in a loop, they’ve most likely met before, just like the Doctor and Bill, which is suggested by Bill wearing the same clothes at the beginning and end of the episode.  He knows whom he’s supposed to take in the TARDIS when he meets them, as he told Clara in “The Snowmen.”  However, he doesn’t know why.

It’s possessed Heather, whom I find interesting, because of the symbology.  Not only does the water coming off her represent “The Waters of Mars,” but it and her shrieking also represent the Siren from “The Curse of the Black Spot.”  Bill and Heather are out on the lawn outside of the Doctor’s office.  Bill, shown below (red arrow), represents the light side of the light and dark pattern, while Heather (yellow arrow) represents the dark side, the shadow side.  She symbolizes The Ghost, the Shadow Child, the Hybrid.  This also symbolizes the Doctor fearing himself.  


####  **The Siren: Death & Healing**

**Death Lure**

“The Curse of the Black Spot” has a lot of similarities to “The Pilot” and to the missing crew of the _Mary Celeste_.  The TARDIS is marooned onboard a 17th century pirate ship while the crew is being lured to their deaths by the mysterious Siren.  

Those who are wounded end up with a black spot on their palm.  It’s a sign they will fall under the spell of the Siren’s song while she metaphorically lures them to their deaths.  One by one the crew disappear.  

In “The Pilot,” with Heather chasing them around the universe without giving up (sounds familiar), the Doctor’s fears takes over.  Trying to kill Heather symbolizes trying to kill himself because he is so afraid of what he was prophesized to do.

The Doctor mentions sterilization and fire when talking about Heather, a reference to the Black Spot episode.

> **DOCTOR** :  Plan! Basic sterilisation. We're going to run that thing through the deadliest fire in the universe.

####  **Rory Drowns & Heals**

Rory becomes affected.  When the Doctor and Amy try to keep Rory from being lured by the Siren’s spell, the Siren screeches like possessed Heather.  While the Doctor and Amy try to save him, Rory falls overboard.  The Doctor realizes Rory’s only hope is the Siren.

The Doctor, Amy, and the captain purposely let themselves get taken by the Siren, too, and find the bridge of an alien ship.  Is this happening now in DW?  Later, there are a lot of similarities:

> **AVERY** : We're on a ghost ship.  
>  **DOCTOR** : No. It's real. Space ship trapped in a temporal rift.  
>  **AMY** : How can two ships be in the same place?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Not the same. Two planes, two worlds, two cars parked in the same space. There are lots of different universes nested inside each other. Now and again they collide, and you can step from one to the other.

A few minutes later, they find the sickbay and see Rory is on life support after he drowned.  The captain’s son is there on life support, too.

> **DOCTOR** : Amy, stop. Don't interfere. Don't touch him. Anaesthetic, tissue sample, screen, sterile working conditions. Ignore all my previous theories!  
>  **AMY** : Yeah? Well, we stopped paying attention a while back.  
>  **DOCTOR** : She's not a killer at all, she's a doctor!  
>  (Amy stops fiddling with Rory's life support and the Siren returns to green.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : This is an automated sick bay. It's teleporting everyone on board. The crew are dead, and so the sick bay has had nothing to do. It's been looking after humanity whilst it's been idle. Look at her. A virtual doctor able to sterilise a whole room.  
>  **AMY** : Able to burn your face off.  
>  **DOCTOR** : She's just an interface, seeped through the join between the planes, broadcast in our world. Protean circuitry means she can change her form, and become a human doctor for humans. Oh, sister, you are good.  
>  **AVERY** : She won't let us take them.  
>  **DOCTOR** : She's keeping them alive, but she doesn't know how to heal them.

Amy has to take Rory off life support and save him.

In “The Pilot,” the Doctor looks Heather-Dalek in the eye, shown below.  He’s looking eye-to-eye with himself, so to speak, the same way the girl in “The Beast Below” looked at the Star Whale and realized it wasn’t the terrible beast she thought it was.  He begins to understand who Heather is in relationship to himself.  


> **DOCTOR** : Her last conscious thought, driving her across the universe. Never underestimate a crush.  
>  **NARDOLE** : Oh, you don't have to tell me.  
>  **BILL** : What do we do?  
>  **DOCTOR** : I don't know. She's not chasing you, she's inviting you. Release her. Release her from her promise.

Nardole’s line is talking about the Doctor.

As Bill and Heather reach out toward each other, the Doctor’s fears take over.  The lure of death - he’s talking about himself and how time travel is a lure, a trap.  It changes his companions, trapping them in his life, and kills them.

> **DOCTOR** [OC]: Bill, listen to me. Whatever she's showing you, whatever she's letting you see. It's a lure, it's a trap. She's making you part of her, and you can never come back.  
>  **BILL** [OC]: I see what you see. It's beautiful.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Bill, let go! You have to let go! She is not human any more.

He doesn’t want to lure people to their deaths.  He doesn’t want to be the Star Whale.

Rory’s death is a metaphor for the Doctor’s death.  Rory’s healing foreshadows the Doctor’s.

####  **The Tears**

The Doctor can psychically affect those around him, which is one reason he isn’t supposed to get involved.  This is a superpower spelled out for Time Lords in Classic Who canon.

> **HEATHER** : Goodbye, Bill.  
>  (Bill lets go. The Doctor pulls her away from Heather.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : Bill!  
>  (Heather dissolves into a puddle.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : You all right?  
>  **BILL** : Yeah, I think so.  
>  **NARDOLE** : You don't look all right.  
>  **DOCTOR** : She's fine.  
>  **NARDOLE** : That's the Doctor for you. Never notices the tears.  
>  **BILL** : I don't think they're mine.

He feels things a lot more deeply than he wants people to know.  And he has to run away to prevent doing more harm.

##  **Promises**

The 1st Doctor made a promise to come back to see Susan.  Wow that was a long time ago!  Will we see the 1st Doctor?  I hope so.  Obviously, it won’t be William Hartnell, but that’s OK.

The 12th Doctor made a promise to Clara in “Under the Lake” before we see the Doctor’s ghost:

> **DOCTOR** : I'll get you and the others out. Sit tight, I'll come back for you.

In the sequel, “Before the Flood,” Clara programmed him to come back:

> **CLARA** : _Not with me_! Die with whoever comes after me. You do _not_ leave _me_.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Clara, I need to talk to you just on your own.  
>  (They pick up their respective handsets.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : Listen to me. We all have to face death eventually, be it ours or someone else's.  
>  **CLARA** : I'm not ready yet. I don't want to think about that, not yet.  
>  **DOCTOR** : I can't change what's already happened. There are rules.  
>  **CLARA** : So break them. And anyway, you owe me. You've made yourself essential to me. You've given me something else to, to be. And you can't do that and then die. It's not fair.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Clara.  
>  **CLARA** : No. Doctor, I don't care about your rules or your bloody survivor's guilt. If you love me in any way, you'll come back. Doctor, are you?

Rory made a promise to Amy while she was in the Pandorica to protect her.  The Pandorica is in the Library metaphor.  Is the Vault in “The Pilot” meant to represent the Pandorica?

##  **_The Wizard of Oz_** ** & _Through the Looking Glass_**

I'm going to post this here because _The Wizard of Oz_ and _Through the Looking Glass_ relate to ideas in the next section. However, I should have posted this with the previous chapter on influential novels. While I'm only giving a few details here, though, of how it relates to the next section, these novels have been influential throughout nuWho, especially with the 12th Doctor's arc.

Things are becoming more mysterious in this episode, which has the feeling of the 1st and 7th Doctors.  I’m ecstatic about that because we’re going to see answers to questions I’ve had for many years, specifically why the canon says Time Lords have superpowers that we’ve never seen them use, other than the Sisterhood of Karn.

 _The Wizard of Oz_ promises the same thing that “Time Heist” promises.  When the mission is over, the Doctor gets to wake up, so to speak, and remember his family.  The Doctor goes to Australia because the country is sometimes colloquially called "Oz," showing us yet another reference to _The Wizard of Oz_.  The actress, Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan, is still alive, so I’m really expecting her to show up because when the Doctor completes the mission, he should become fully conscious and see his family.  

_Through the Looking Glass_ opens up to a fantastic world that is based on chess.  (The Doctor, of course, has a chessboard in his office.)  In the story, most of the characters, including animals are chess pieces.  Alice, too, is a pawn, just like we’ve seen with the Doctor, Clara, and some of the other characters.  There are 2 looking glasses, shown below, on the Doctor’s desk: one big and one small, referencing _Through the Looking Glass_.  


TRODM also had a very _Through the Looking Glass_ feel and even _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland._   At the beginning, we fly through the comic panel that says, “That night...,” going down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass.  


In fact, the flamingo sign in TRODM, shown below, is a reference to _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ where live flamingoes are used as tools, as mallets in the croquet game.  The tool, a reference to the Doctor being a broom in “Deep Breath,” is missing.  The Flamingo doesn’t want to be part of the game any longer.  This most likely ties into the missing pilot in the Season 10 opener.  


##  **Christmas**

Sadly, the Doctor is stuck in a rut – status quo, which is what the green crown represents in the image below.  That’s also supported by his 50-70 years spent teaching on Earth. He is not moving forward, but becoming more human and regressing to a more impure state, which is common at the Sun stage of psychological development.  Being alone is a terrible thing for him, and Nardole does not represent the push toward enlightenment that he needs.  The crowns represent an integration, though. 

The twist about the Professor metaphor is that it’s a level of animus development, which corresponds to the unconscious of a woman with the masculine inner personality of the animus.  This corresponds to the gender change.  To support that, the Doctor was in the women’s restroom with Bill because he is male and female.  Actually, what is happening is that he really is the little girl Missy mentioned but had to hide for fear of getting enslaved.  I’ll show you why in the future.

Therefore, in the subtext River will become the Doctor, and vice versa.  This suggests, they will become One symbolically in a Sacred Marriage, representing oneness with the universe.  But this is a Mother of God consciousness level.  I’ve seen this in the subtext for a long time, and I’ll admit that this was confusing when I first encountered it.  For a while, the Doctor and River in the subtext have seemed to be swapping roles.  We’ve also got the DoctorDonna and the unofficial DoctorClara.

We’ve already seen the Sacred Marriage with CAL in the Library.  In “Forest of the Dead,” River has to integrate herself into the computer to save the Library and everyone in it because CAL is self-destructing.  However, it also takes the 12th Doctor to create her sonic screwdriver and the 10th Doctor to upload her living consciousness to the computer.  It’s the power of 3.

River, at the end, represents the Mother of God consciousness, shown below.  The 2 children on the left were Donna’s.  CAL is on the right with a flamingo (red arrow) on her bed.  CAL has accepted her role as the Flamingo, the tool, the Star Whale.  However, by uniting with River, this represents uniting with her family.  The bad things in the Library are gone because CAL is whole again.  


Essentially, in TRODM the Doctor is in self-destruct mode, represented by the spacecraft exploding (kind of), foreshadowing his alchemical death, which is like CAL going into self-destruct mode in the Library.  

In “The Pilot,” the Doctor has taken a step backward from that, but he has an hourglass on his desk, shown below.  The sand has almost run out.  This was filmed before Peter Capaldi knew he was leaving, so this all was going to happen anyway.  The Sun has to die (alchemically) to move onto the Red stage.  


##  **“The Husbands of River Song,” the Sun & the Vaults**

The Sun having to die to move onto the Red stage explains why River in THORS has to die at the end of the night on Darillium.  She is the sunset, as shown below.  


In THORS, she was on a mission to save the Doctor, even though it didn’t look like it.  Notice the cross (representing the 12th Doctor) behind the egg-like ball that opens all the Vaults in the galaxy, which means it opens the Doctor’s mind, making him remember who he was, which is what “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” showed.  The diamond represents, I believe, his name.  The Holy Grail.  This is a different way of showing what happened in “The Name of the Doctor” with River giving away the Doctor’s name, which led to his timeline being destroyed and then rewritten by Clara.  River has to speak his name to make him remember.   


##  **Identity Looming Large**

If the diamond in THORS is a metaphor for the Doctor’s name, he gave it as payment to build the restaurant on Darillium.  He gave away his identity for love.  That is substantiated by River in the Library having to tell his name to the 10th Doctor, as proof of her knowing who he is in “Forest of the Dead.”

####  **“The Return of Doctor Mysterio”**

That’s significant because TRODM is about the Doctor’s identity.  Grant told Lucy: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/36-0.html>

> **GRANT** : Discussion of my true identity would put the people closest to me at risk. That is not acceptable.

He says something similar in “The Pilot.”

 **“The Pilot”**  
In “The Pilot,” the Doctor and Bill discuss the memory wipe and identity: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/36-1.html>

> **BILL** : Yeah, because I think you're going to wipe my memory. I'm not stupid, you know. That's the trouble with you. You don't think anyone's ever seen a movie. I know what a mind-wipe looks like!  
>  **DOCTOR** : I have no choice. I'm here for a reason. I am in disguise. I have promises to keep. No one can know about me.

In fact, the 12th Doctor’s entire arc is about his identity.  In TRODM, Grant promised not to use his powers but did so to help people.  Harmony Shoal found him and wanted to steal his body.

In “The Pilot,” the Doctor promised not to use his powers.  However, he is not only doing that, but also in bigger ways than it may appear.

##  **Beginning to Remember Clara**

Bill is starting to make the Doctor think about Clara.  She mentions “kitchen” when she enters the TARDIS, and he has a strange look.  Also, the memory wipe he wanted to do makes him think.

> **BILL** : Okay, let me remember just for a week. Just a week. Okay, well, just for tonight. Just one night. Come on, let me have some good dreams for once. Okay. Do what you've got to do. But imagine, just imagine how it would feel if someone did this to you.

Clara’s theme music plays.  How much does he remember?

##  **The Long Character Journey**

A lot more time than it appears passed from the beginning of the episode to the end.  We are spanning the 1st Doctor through the 12th.  A lot changed.

####  **Bill’s Long Journey**

Bill starts her journey in her striped top and ends it the same way, except this time she sports a guitar, a symbol of integration with the Doctor.  She is the unactualized potential of what he needs to become.  


The Doctor is changing Bill just like he changes Rose.  Like he changes everyone who enters his TARDIS.  And that is one of the themes.  

She represents the emotional understanding that the Doctor needs to recognize his potential.  At the same time, he is helping her to recognize her own potential.

Anyway, Bill through her journey ends up representing many past companions.  Looking at the metaphors, we can see whom she represents:

  * Rose (alarm clock, chips, accent, crown, background and not using her full brilliance, Bill’s foster mother is similar to Rose’s mother) 
  * Martha (ringtone, and Bill’s foster mother is similar to Martha’s mother)
  * Donna (background of being a temp and not using her full brilliance; her mother is a lot like Bill’s foster mother, especially with the Christmas gift)
  * River (big hair; suggested orphanages in River’s story, Danny Pink’s, and the Doctor’s)
  * Clara (kitchen; crown; follows Doctor, like in “The Snowmen”)
  * Ace – 7th Doctor’s companion (jacket with decals)
  * Susan (the Doctor looks at Susan’s photograph when talking about why he picked Bill out of the crowd)
  * Amy (someone looking up at Amy from the water in “Vampires in Venice”; ice cracking in the pond in “The Snowmen”; strange tears in “The Pandorica Opens,” “Vincent and the Doctor,” “The Big Bang“)
  * Integrated with the Doctor at the end (guitar necklace)



Sarah Jane, I imagine, is also part of the integrations, and probably most of his regular companions are.

Ultimately, Bill is a mirror of the Doctor.  In the photo below, she is wearing a red crown.  Red means she’s at the Red stage of the Great Work.  Also, it means that she, for one thing, represents the Doctor’s Mother of God consciousness, which means Divine love.  A union of the Divine brings Divine Oneness, merging of dualities into a single new whole.  With the gender change, which I’m still evaluating, she could also represent the male version.  For purposes of simplifying our discussion, I’ll refer to her representing the Mother of God consciousness.  


####  **Bill & the 3 Faces of the Doctor**

The 3 founders of Time Lord society are Rassilon, Omega, and the Other.  The Other is not actually a canon reference.  The Other first showed up in the novelization version of the 7th Doctor episode “Remembrance of the Daleks.”  

However, I’m going with it as foreshadowing the coming canon because it’s obvious to me that is the way DW is going.  The Other is a possessed version of the Doctor.  He may be a temporary character while in this parallel universe.  Once the Doctor dies in this universe, will the Doctor’s calling card be valid?  The card is part of the Cartmel Plan from Classic Who:

Bill later in “The Pilot” comes to represents the 3 faces of the Doctor. Her jacket has a question mark, backward 3-type symbol, and a lowercase “i,” representing the Doctor’s Eye.  Holding hands with Bill is a symbolic integration with the Doctor before Heather and Bill integrate.  


Revisiting the Doctor’s calling card, I’ve labeled more items, shown below.  Rassilon’s symbol is in the upper left.  However, does that mean Rassilon is always present as a face of the Doctor?  Or is Rassilon one of the possible personalities that might emerge?  In the same way, Omega is represented by the lowercase omega when it is pushed together.   


The image below is from “The Five Doctors.”  Rassilon’s insignia (white arrow) is next to the 5th Doctor.  Susan is in the white blouse on the left.  


####  **The Doctor’s Journey**

The Doctor has been living in Hell basically, paying for his sins.  With Bill’s help, along with all the companions Bill represents, the Doctor is ready to move forward to get out of the looped time that he is in.  He’s made a lot of promises that he is now breaking.  How much will he have to pay for that?

He realizes he is not the beast he had assumed he was.  However, he still has some fears foreshadowed from “Night Terror” with young George that might need to be overcome.  

**Author's Note:**

> I want to make this meta series as clear as possible, so if it’s not, please let me know.
> 
> Check out my [meta archive on Tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/meta-archive) for images


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